Neve Dekalim, Gaza Strip – After 38 years of occupation and months of preparation and protest, Israel began its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip on Sunday by sealing the area and preparing to deliver final eviction notices to thousands of Jewish settlers.
Soldiers closed border crossings between Israel and Gaza at midnight Sunday, and police erected roadblocks on routes leading to the predominantly Palestinian region in an attempt to minimize demonstrations by Jewish opponents of the withdrawal.
It’s now illegal for Israelis to live in Gaza.
Palestinians planted flags and deployed troops near some Jewish settlements and called for the “liberation” of the West Bank and Jerusalem. Banners proclaiming “Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem” flew in Gaza City.
Thousands of defiant Israeli settlers and 5,000 supporters who flocked to Gaza gathered themselves for the next step: the arrival today of Israeli soldiers and police officers carrying written evacuation orders and offering to pack the settlers’ belongings.
The operation carries the title of “Yad Ahim,” or “A Hand to Our Brothers.” Despite that euphemistic touch, tensions were high in Gaza and Israel.
As the day ended, skirmishes between young resisters and soldiers flared in Neve Dekalim, the largest Israeli town in Gaza, with 2,500 residents.
Demonstrators punctured tires of military vehicles and looted at least one jeep.
Anyone still there or in the 20 other Israeli villages and towns in Gaza on Wednesday will be subject to physical removal by 55,000 soldiers and police.
Some police officers and soldiers reported receiving phone calls from as far away as the United States urging them to disobey orders and not participate in the operation.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other members of the government say the disengagement from Gaza is necessary to maintain Israel’s security and its hold on much of the West Bank. Critics call it a surrender to Palestinian attacks.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told Israeli television Sunday that the nation had “chosen the right path.”
“Don’t listen to the voices of the extremists, who want a continuation of the occupation,” he said. “I don’t want and I will not accept any clashes with the (Israeli) army or the settlers.”
As of Sunday, 1,127 of the estimated 1,700 Israeli families in Gaza had applied for government compensation, according to Israeli officials, signaling some readiness to leave.
Many settlers have left or are expected to mount only symbolic opposition, but authorities expect confrontations this week with resisters and some of the militant, mostly young Israelis who have traveled to the region in recent days.
“Monday and Tuesday are the days that will give us a clear picture of the level of opposition we will face,” said Moshe Karadi, the chief of Israel’s national police force.
“In any case, we, along with the (army), are prepared for the worst case.”
Less than an hour after Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip, hundreds of activists flooded out of Kfar Darom, a hotbed of opposition in the main settlement region of Gush Katif, marched a half mile to the main highway into the Gaza Strip settlements and briefly blocked the road before returning to prepare for their final stand later today.
Throughout the region, a sense of heightened expectation materialized and emotional scenes unfolded.
At a Jewish cemetery near Neve Dekalim, where 48 graves must be exhumed and the bodies re-interred in Israel, people threw themselves on tombstones and wailed.
Others stood together as families recited Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.
On the other side of the divide, the Palestinian Authority began deploying as many as 7,500 security personnel around the Israeli settlements.
Their mission: prevent Palestinian attacks that could sabotage the withdrawal.
It could be a challenge.
Early Sunday, Palestinian gunmen fired on Kfar Darom.
